The Alma (formerly Argyll/Ardmore) Field, Blocks 30/24 and 30/25a, UK North Sea

Abstract

The Alma Field (formerly Argyll and then Ardmore) is located within Blocks 30/24 and 30/25 on the western margin of the Central Graben. Hamilton drilled the first discovery well 30/24-1 in 1969 and the field, named ‘Argyll’, became the first UK offshore oilfield when production commenced in 1975. Oil was produced from the Devonian Buchan Formation, Permian Rotliegend and Zechstein groups, and Jurassic Fulmar Formation from 1976 until 1992, when the field was abandoned for economic reasons. In 2002, Tuscan Energy and Acorn Oil & Gas redeveloped the field and renamed it as ‘Ardmore’. A further 5 MMbbl were produced until 2005, when the field was again abandoned due to commercial considerations. In 2011, EnQuest was awarded the licence to redevelop the field and renamed it as ‘Alma’. The field came on stream in October 2015 and has produced oil at an average c. 6000 bopd since start-up.Total ultimate recovery was expected to be about 100 MMbbl. As of end 2005, the field had produced 72.6 MMbbl as Argyll and 5 MMbbl as Ardmore. A further 4.3 MMbbl has been produced from the Alma Field to September 2017 (which includes about 0.5 MMbbl from a long-reach well drilled into the Duncan/Galia Field immediately west of Alma). In January 2020 EnQuest announced that the Alma Field would cease production early. The total production from the three phases of field development will be about 85 MMbbl of oil.

Spatial and temporal distribution of hydrocarbon production on the UK continental shelf

“…Examples of oil fields with multiple GDEs where the dominant producing reservoir would be listed based on supporting references for statistical analysis include the Argyll field where there are multiple reservoirs, but the pressure connected continental reservoirs have been most volumetrically prolific (Tang et al, 2020). In the Beryl field an estimated 78% is produced from the Paralic and Shallow marine reservoirs (Karasek et al, 2003; Knutson & Munro, 1991) and so it is classed as such for analysis.…”